City celebrates long-awaited reopening of Main Street

It sat on new asphalt, between newly painted lines next a new sidewalk with new trees.

It was ready and waiting, waiting to roll down Main Street.

More than 100 people celebrated the reopening of Main Street to vehicles Saturday afternoon with speeches and a small parade.

After more than two decades of discussion and years of construction, the entire seven blocks were open to cars once again.

Forty-three years to the day after the City Commission unanimously voted to block off Main Street in 1969, White would be the first to drive down the newly open street.

Daniel Camunez, 2, of Las Cruces, takes a snooze during the reopening of Main Street ceremony on Saturday on Main Street near White's Music Box. It has been 43-years to the day since vehicular traffic has taken place on the entire length of the street. (Robin Zielinski/Sun-News)

Established in 1907, Main Street was true to its name as the center of Las Crucen life, home to the Rio Grande Theatre, St. Genevieve's Church, a grocery store, a hotel and other local businesses.

Then "urban renewal" and shopping malls swept the nation in the 1960s and '70s.

Main Streets and historic buildings across the country were shut down, torn down, born again as pedestrian malls.

But they didn't draw the crowds city officials had hoped for, and soon towns began to consider bringing back their Main Streets sans pedestrian-only restrictions.

A photo showing Main Street downtown circa 1900 looking north is held in the foreground of a picture showing the same view of the street Saturday. (Robin Zielinski/Sun-News)

Las Cruces was no exception.

Former Mayor Ruben Smith said downtown Las Cruces "was literally dying" from the decision to convert it into the Downtown Mall.

Driversby couldn't see what lay inside as they wrapped around the mall on "the racetrack," and businesses shut their doors.

"If you don't have a presence and people can't see you — they don't come," White said.

Conversations to revitalize downtown Las Cruces began in earnest in 1994 and came to fruition with the 2006 groundbreaking of what became modern day, old-fashioned Main Street.

On Saturday, 88-year-old Evan Anaya sat on a new green bench near the parade stand, remembering what the original Main Street looked like before it was largely bulldozed in the 1970s.

City Councilor Miguel Silva rides a bicycle decorated in patriotic colors down Main Street during Saturday's reopening ceremony and parade. (Robin Zielinski/Sun-News)

Anaya pointed out which building he thought was the grocer, which one was the hotel. He recalled going to the Rio Grande Theatre and walking down the big, wide Main Street.

"It's not going to be the same as it was before, but it's going to be nice," he said, sitting with his friend Kris Bruene.

Bruene never knew the old Main Street, but said she thinks the new one will be good for the city.

Antique cars rolled down the street to tunes by the Las Cruces High School Showcase Band, passing White's Music Box, the Rio Grande Theatre and the memorial to St. Genevieve's Church.

Mayor Pro Tem Sharon Thomas thanked the multitude of people involved in revitalizing downtown over the years. She remarked on the coincidental reopening 43 years after the vote to close the street, a mention that brought scattered boos from the crowd.

"Today marks the official day that life comes back to downtown across all seven blocks," she said.

The reopening is a "walk down memory lane," Councilman Miguel Silva told the crowd of mainly older adults and families.

"We can't create those physical entities (of Old Main Street) again, but we can create memories," he said.

Christmas lights decorated light poles and benches, awnings, water fountains and parallel parking spots were scattered up and down the stretch. The Rio Grande Theatre has been fully renovated. The two crosses on the monument to St. Genevieve's pointed up toward the overcast sky.

Just as Mayor Miyagishima cut the red ribbon and kicked off the parade, the sun peeked out from behind the clouds.

But the sky remained cloudy and some Main Street locations remain empty, mostly between the newly opened blocks from Griggs Avenue to Amador Avenue.

Two bare windows are occupied by "For Rent" signs. Others, now dim and empty, are marred by remnants of tape that once held up various signs of life.

White said businesses will return to the city center.

"I think entrepreneurs will look very seriously about moving downtown," he said.

Las Cruces resident Peter Voris said he rarely visited the Downtown Mall, but now will spend time here.

"There really wasn't much draw," he said, after driving his 1951 Riley in the parade. "I'm glad to see businesses are starting to come back."

"I do hope it will be the draw that they have hoped," he said.

Lindsey Anderson can be reached at 575-541-5462. Follow her on Twitter @l_m_anderson.com.

Timeline:

November 1969 — The city approves closing Main Street to vehicular traffic.